Navy commanders of the Indian Ocean littoral states convened in Bandar Abbas (IRAN) on 16-19 June for participating in Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS).
The session is being proposed by Islamic Republic of Iran Navy in order to conduct a joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean with the presence of IONS members.
The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, commonly known as IONS, is a forum to increase maritime cooperation among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region. The forum helps to preserve peaceful relations between nations, and thus is critical to building effective maritime security architecture in the Indian Ocean Region and is also fundamental to our collective prosperity.
The inaugural IONS Seminar was held by the Indian Navy in 2008. Subsequent seminars and meetings of the ‘Conclave of Chiefs’ have been held at the commencement of each two year IONS Chairmanship: United Arab Emirates in 2010, South Africa in 2012, Australia in 2014 and Bangladesh in 2016. In April 2018 the IONS Chairmanship rotates to Iran, and in 2020 to France. IONS includes 23 nations that permanently hold territory that abuts or lies within the Indian Ocean, and 9 observer nations.
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